The new year proved not very welcoming to new Fox comedy series Cooper Barrett’s Guide To Surviving Life and Bordertown. Airing against Sunday Night Football, both series premieres dropped significantly from their lead-ins. Cooper Barreett (1.2 in adults 18-49) at 8:30 PM followed The Simpsons (2.0, helped by an NFL overrun), while the Seth MacFarlane-produced animated comedy Bordertown (1.1) at 9:30 PM aired behind MacFarlane’s Family Guy (1.7). Bordertown‘s performance was only slightly better than the debut in the time slot of Fox’s short-lived comedy Mulaney in fall 2014 (1.0 with a 1.9 Family Guy lead-in).

The other broadcast comedy series last night was ABC’s quirky medieval musical Galavant, which opened its second season at 8 PM with back-to-back episodes that drew a 0.9 in 18-49, tying a series low. The Dan Fogelman comedy also slipped from its lead-in, an America’s Funniest Home Videos rerun (1.1). Galavant received a last-minute reprieve, landing a second-season pickup in May following so-so ratings after a solid start. The self-depreciating Season 2 opening musical number penned by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater acknowledges somewhat prophetically that the renewal was a “miracle” that may not happen again.

There was one more original last night, CBS’ Undercover Boss, currently at a 1.4 in 18-49, even with last week pending updates.

In metered-market results, SNF, which won the night for NBC, averaged a 14.8 rating from 8:30 to 11:30 PM ET. The Vikings’ 20-13 win over Packers that clinched the NFC North title was up +17% from the comparable Cincinnati-Pittsburgh matchup for the AFC North title last year (12.7/21).

Golan the Insatiable beat Bordertown by a lot in the same time slot. They should just bring that back.

r0ckmypants • on Jan 4, 2016 3:05 pm

Um, not even close. Golan debuted at 0.6.

Ethel Mertz • on Jan 4, 2016 11:43 am

Gary and Dana’s Fox tenure is the most fascinating trainwreck since Rahm Emmanuel in Chicago.

cadavra • on Jan 4, 2016 1:43 pm

If nothing else, BORDERTOWN has toppled BOB’S BURGERS for the title of “Most Ugly And Unappealing Cartoon Characters On Television.” The show itself isn’t bad, but just looking at those squiggles gives me a headache.